Time to spring our plan into action

Vanessa adjusts her direction and brings us to a wing of the dungeon where several people of Asian ethnicity are held. We stop at a cell which held a woman in her 40’s. She too is nude, like the others. Except, while the other slaves no longer try to hide their bodies, this woman still keeps her arms in front of her chest to hide her breasts.

“This is a rather recent catch.” Vanessa answers coldly. “She is on the mature side and still needs some training, but I hear adventurers sometimes prefer mature slaves, or training their slaves themselves.”

“No, please.” The woman in the cell pleads. “I have a husband. Tell me what you’ve done with him.”

I look at the woman and ask sternly, “Do you have a daughter too?”

“Yes.” The woman quickly answers. “So, you see. I have already been used. I am no good to you anymore.”

“Please, do not listen to her words.” Vanessa tells me. “Unruly slaves have a strong tendency to lie. You should not let that sway your decision.”

While this woman didn’t say her daughter’s name is Shalia, I feel I have a high chance that she is. It would be worth the bet. “I will take this one.” I tell Vanessa.

Vanessa reaches for the cell keys and moves to unlock the cell. As soon as the cell door is open I use my ice magic to create two ice-clubs and knock 2 of the guards following us on their heads. Ryul also quickly moves, like we discussed in our strategy meeting giving one guard a nasty kick to the jaw and the other a punch to the face. In mere seconds all 4 of the guards lay ****.

When Vanessa sees us act, she jumps back in fear and scurries away into a corner, arms in front of her face, like she is expecting us to hurt her.

“Don’t worry, Vanessa.” I say. “We are not here for you. We are here for the Count.”

“T-the Count?” Vanessa asks.

“Yeah, that bastard has been selling people into slavery.” Ryul continues. “Even nobles are no longer immune when they do that. So, we’re going to capture him and sent him to the capital for trial.”

With a big sigh, Vanessa drops her arms and says, “Oh, thank the goddess. We’ll finally be free.”

Ryul walks over to the cell with the Asian woman inside and asks, “Are you Shalia’s mother?”

“Y-yes.” The woman answers. “Do you know my daughter?”

“I do.” Ryul answers. “We’ve come to help you and your husband escape.”

“Her husband is on the other side of the prison, where the men are kept.” Vanessa answers. “I can bring you to him.”

“Find us some rope first, or some shackles.” I tell Vanessa. “We’ll tie up these guards and release all the prisoners.” Then I turn to Lilith and say, “Do the thing.”

Lilith concentrates for a moment and casts the [Ghost Sight] spell on herself. It’s a spell that will allow her to talk to ghost. After casting the spell, she looks around, then looks at some empty area and asks, “Ok, which of you have beef with Count Earl.” Whatever the ghosts reply with, it is enough for Lilith to say, “Good news. You get to be a part of his downfall. Upstairs we have some friends. They are waiting for a sign to start taking out his guards. All you need to do is fly up there and make them feel a shiver go down their spine. Go on. Chop chop.”

Immediately after, Amelia suddenly gives out this weird squeal. Then I too feel a cold shiver go down my spine. I guess some of these ghosts are pretty eager to get back at the Count.

With the signal to start attacking sent to my friends, it is high time to go after the Count and get Shalia away from him. I tell Amelia and Lilith to stay with Vanessa and unlock all the cells and get these prisoners some clothes as quickly as possible. Once they are on that, Ryul and I head back the way we came, out of the dungeon and down the halls, all the way back to the entrance with the stairs where we first met the Count and handed Shalia over to him.

Despite my attempts at memorizing the way from the entrance to the dungeon, Ryul and I do make a wrong turn. We even come across some more guards and knock them **** like the others. Eventually, we get to where we need to be and rush up the stairs towards Count Earl’s personal chambers. We head straight for the room Kiara told us about and enter the room. Our expectation is to find Shalia victorious over the Count and him already tied up in some vines she summoned. We intentionally left her wrists bound rather loosely so she could easily get out and fight back. Instead, we discover Shalia stripped nude and held down by the guards while Count Earl, also nude is pushing his dick against Shalia’s breasts.

When Ryul sees his girlfriend being molested like this, he immediately activates his [Berserk] skill. With it enhancing all his other skill, he activates [Deadly Rush] and charges at the Count, punching him away from Shalia. Next he moves into [Earth Stance] and starts beating up the guards holding Shalia down. I decide to let Ryul focus on the guards and run over to Count Earl. The naked fat man is still reeling from the punch when I pull him back up.

“You’re done, Count.” I say with venom in my voice. “We’ve got evidence on you selling people into slavery. You’re going to face justice for this.”

I expected the Count to tell us we can’t do this to him, or even to grovel, or beg. Not for him to start laughing.

“Hohoho, you fools have no idea what you have done today, do you?” Count Earl says as he looks me in the eyes. “If you bring an end to my little enterprise, all my regular customers will be quite displeased. And many of them are quite wealthy. Perhaps the people will see you as heroes. But the underground will be chasing you down until the lot of you have been assassinated. No matter where you go and no matter your rank, you will have to look over your shoulder and sleep with 1 eye open. Your merry days of playing the hero without consequences are over.”

Does the corruption in this country really run this deep? Wealthy people desperately demanding to have commoners as literal slaves that they would be willing to hunt us down simply out of spite?

While I am contemplating how Earl’s threat masses up out plans, Shalia comes in and kicks the Count. Having been released from the guards, she has collected her dress and is holding it in front of her so at least her frontside is covered. With the Count down on the ground, Shalia stands above him and keeps kicking him.

“This is for killing my boyfriend!” Shalia yells. “And for trying to kidnap me! And this one is for capturing my parents, you sick freak.”

Knowing how strong an A-rank adventurer can be, I quickly pull Shalia off the Count and say, “Stop it, Shalia. You’re going to kill him.”

“Maybe we should.” Ryul answers, slamming his right fist into his left palm. “He is nothing more than a piece of human shit anyways. Preying on his fellow humans, both for lust and greed.

“Hold on. Wait a moment. Maybe we can work something out.” The Count grovels.

“If he dies, he will no longer be able to tell his precious friends why their filthy operation came to an end.” Shalia says. “It is the best solution and you know it.” She then looks at the Count and says, “I would gladly kill this filthy pig myself.”

“You can’t kill him, Shalia.” I tell my friend. “You would be doing so out of vengeance. That is wrong.”

“I can kill him for her.” Ryul interrupts and starts walking to the Count.

This is bad, I have 2 friends who allow themselves to be guided by their anger and are about to make a mistake. But I can only hold back 1 of them.

Suddenly, a dagger flies between us and embeds itself in the Count’s chest. The three of us look at Count Earl as he takes his final breath and then collapses. Then we turn to the door, where the dagger came from. Ari is standing there, her hand still outstretched from throwing the dagger. I take it she has heard our conversation and realized like me that killing out of vengeance is wrong. On top of which, she had a ‘solution’ for it. I don’t think I will think it was the correct solution. But at least now neither Shalia nor Ryul have to kill for vengeance. Shalia still goes and kicks the Count’s corpse, though.

I get back to the mission and leave Shalia and Ryul in the Count’s room. By now the guards are alerted to us and already have their swords drawn. Amongst them is a B-rank, but we managed to take him out as well. After having defeated all the guards, we tie the **** ones up and leave them all in the center of mansion. Amelia and Lilith arrive with the freed slaves, all dressed now. Even Vanessa is wearing a proper dress. When I see her, I inform Vanessa that the Count is dead.

“Good riddance.” She sighs while also touching the right side of her forehead, where she has the bruise. “The world will be a better place without him.”

Shortly after, Ryul and Shalia join us. Shalia’s mother and father quickly run up to her and give their daughter a big hug. An interesting way for Ryul to be introduced to Shalia’s parents. I feel him rescuing them from prison will go a long way in him winning her parents’ approval. I also overhear that Count Earl had a special collar that he put on Shalia to restrain her adventurer powers. Sounds similar as the one Enzo used on Livia a long time ago.

“So, what do we do now?” Vanessa asks.

Kiara steps forward and says, “If I were you, I would burn this place down. No need for the Count’s business partners to realize this place was sacked. Let them think there was a house fire and the Count couldn’t get out on time. Let them think it was an accident.”

“Before you go and burn it all down, maybe you should grab some valuables.” Merlara suggests. “Many of you are going to have to start new lives after all. Might as well take some coin from this criminal.

“Good idea.” Vanessa answers. “I will tell the slaves and also the other servants.”

“Before you burn the place down, maybe give us a chance to go through the Count’s office.” I ask. “We could find more evidence of people who were with the Count in the **** trade and send that information to the queen.”

I and most of my friends go the office and filter through the documents. There is mention of a lot of nobles. Not only in the human kingdom, but also some from the elf kingdom, the dwarven lands and even a few from the beastkind kingdom. If the Count’s words were true and these people were spiteful enough to hunt us down because we ended their secret slavery business, the only place that might be safe for me is the demon kingdom.

When we have what we need, we leave the mansion and leave the Count’s victims to start the fire. Once the place if burning nicely, we return to the royal guard and deliver the Count’s henchmen to them. With so many prisoners for them to deal with now, they can no longer afford to bring us closer to the border, but it is fine. We are pretty close already and we managed to take some horses from Count Earl’s stables, so we will simply walk the rest of the way. We also hand them the documents that prove the identities of Count Earl’s compatriots and then we go on our way.